Judges hear from bonding companies on Bricen Rivers case after GPS tracking miss

A crucial moment happened when Nakeda Wilhoite stepped up to the microphone.

She was the center of our NewsChannel 5 Investigates reporting on how she held multiple jobs while being responsible for monitoring Bricen Rivers , a man who bonded out in Nashville and was later accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Lauren Johansen days later in Mississippi.

Wilhoite became a key person during an evidence hearing Thursday, where a six-judge panel listened to two different bail companies who wrote the bond for Rivers. In late 2023, he was charged in Nashville for assaulting Johansen while the two were here on vacation back in December. He finally bonded out in late June with a GPS monitoring device and went home to Mississippi. Days later, authorities found her dead.

You can catch up on this investigation in the player above.

Two different companies — Brooke's Bail Bonding and On Time Bail Bonds — provided $75,000 each for Rivers to bail out. However, court documents showed that Rivers should have never been back living in Mississippi. He was supposed to live in Davidson County, have an electronic monitoring device and have zero contact with Johansen in any form. He was also supposed to have no weapons.

Freedom Monitoring Services — which Wilhoite runs while simultaneously working for Brooke's Bail Bonding — wrote that she was unaware of the court's order that required Rivers to remain in Davidson County. Rivers told the company that he would be living in Mississippi, even after he signed the court order demanding he not leave Tennessee.

As it turned out judges had questions about this.

What happened in the hearing?

However, the panel had to track down Wilhoite, who was initially not expected to be there Thursday.

Wilhoite's attorney Jack Byrd had told NewsChannel 5 Investigates the day before that his client was not going to be present, although they looked forward to they day they could clear her name.

However, Judge Steve Dozier made it clear to the court on Thursday that Wilhoite was an integral part of the hearing and must be present.

The court finally managed to get her to appear and explain her role as the GPS monitoring company responsible for Rivers. On top of running Freedom Monitoring Services, Wilhoite worked as a bonding agent for Brooke’s Bail Bonding. At the same time, she was working full-time as a case manager for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.

Wilhoite told the court she only met Rivers on June 29. By then, he already had a GPS device installed by one of her colleagues through Brooke's Bail Bonding. She then said she didn't know Rivers was supposed to stay in Davidson County until the day before they met.

Wilhoite said she told Rivers to come back to Nashville to fix his GPS device but wasn't sure she had the authority to take him to jail for violating his bond conditions.

She said she spoke with Rivers about housing and even job opportunities in Nashville, which Wilhoite said led her to believe Rivers intended on staying in the county this time around.

Wilhoite later said she set up a restriction zone on Johansen's home, using an address provided by Rivers.

State attorneys and even the judges grew frustrated with questions because they had just heard Wilhoite admit she knew Rivers had violated his bond conditions, and there appeared to be no effort to contact law enforcement.

" ​ I had no warrant," Wilhoite said.

"You don't need a warrant to surrender someone, correct? she was asked.

"I think you would. I just couldn't show up to the jail with him I'm sure," Wilhoite said.

"They do it all the time," Judge Dozier said.

Judge Dozier asked Brooke Harlan — the owner of Brooke's Bail Bonding — why Wilhoite was still working for her, knowing she let Rivers leave for Mississippi.

Harlan said she had long talks with Wilhoite and her staff to make corrections, but it was clear that judges felt there was some negligence. At one point asking Harlan if she felt this was negligent.

Harlan went into extensive detail as to why the clerk's office among others should have relayed the bond conditions the way it's normally done.

Officials with the criminal courts have said they take responsibility for not attaching Rivers' bond conditions to his release papers, but there was still the question of why these conditions weren't relayed when they were first signed?

The first page of the bond order from June 5 spelled out that Rivers couldn't leave Davidson County or contact Johansen.

One of Harlan's bond agents told the court that she signed the second page of the document without ever seeing the first.

Harlan said when her office finally learned of Rivers' bond conditions around June 27, she notified her staff that Rivers had to return to Nashville.

"I said well, he needs to get here, he needs to stay here. He can stay in a hotel, the mission, wherever, and he needs to be in court on the second," Harlan said.

When the message was relayed to Wilhoite it was still not clear.

One bond agent testified that sent Wilhoite a picture of these conditions, not long after she learned of them herself.

Harlan and her company were asked multiple times if Wilhoite was a bonding agent for their company, and they would each eventually say yes. So, it was tough for judges to understand why Wilhoite wouldn't know about the bond conditions until the day after her colleagues.

What does Johansen's family think?

The Johansen family was at the hearing on Thursday and listened to the testimony.

"I don't care who you say you're working for," Dr. Lance Johansen said. "If you think you're working for this company one day or this company that day. When you have a person that's out on bond and they are in violation of the bond, you dial 911. That's what you do."

Her family has told us they have been heartbroken and frustrated that their daughter is dead. They picked her up from the hospital after Rivers allegedly beat her in Nashville. She was covered in blood from a cut to her forehead and her eye was swollen shut. She had to be treated for multiple injuries.

When Rivers bonded out this summer, court officials acknowledged that an error by one of their clerks meant the Davidson County Jail did not have Rivers' bond conditions when he was released.

"When Mr. Rivers was released, I wasn't notified. My daughter wasn't notified," Dr. Johansen said.

That meant Rivers' walked out of jail without supervision before calling Brooke's Bail Bonding himself.

Jail records show Rivers was released from the Davidson County Jail later than the order requested, so Harlan hired Freedom Monitoring and Wilhoite for GPS services instead of Tracking Solutions as ordered by the courts.

At the time, Rivers' mother had paid for only part of the agreed-upon bond. There was no clear answer from either bonding company on why Rivers was released before his balance was paid and judges say that's a problem.

While partial payments were made before Rivers was released, he still owed the bond companies thousands more that were never collected.

The judges will now take this all under advisement and decide if these companies should be punished for their roles in Rivers' release. Punishment could take the form of a suspension or they could have their abilities to write bonds in Davidson County revoked.